Alan Charles Clark (9 August 1919 – 16 July 2002) was the first Roman Catholic

Bishop of East Anglia The Bishop of East Anglia is the Ordinary (Catholic Church), Ordinary of the modern Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia in the Province of Westminster, England. The incumbent is Bishop Peter Collins (bishop), Peter Collins, who was installed o ...

in the

Ecclesiastical Province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United State ...

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

, England.

Early life

Born in

Bickley Bickley is a district and a local government electoral ward in South East London, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is located 10.4 miles (16.7 km) south east of Charing Cross, bordering Elmstead, London, Elmstead to the north, Chis ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

on 9 August 1919, he was the son of parents who converted from

Anglicanism Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

to the priesthood on 11 February 1945.

Episcopal career

He was appointed an Auxiliary Bishop of

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

and Titular Bishop of Elmhama by the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

on 31 March 1969. Two months later, he was formally

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

to the

Episcopate A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

on 13 May 1969. The principal

consecrator A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churche ...

was Bishop

Charles Alexander Grant Charles Alexander Grant (25 October 1906 – 24 April 1989) was an English prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Bishop of Northampton from 1967 to 1982. Born in Cambridge on 25 October 1906, he was received into the Catholic Chur ...

of Northampton, and the principal co-consecrators were Archbishop

Cyril Conrad Cowderoy Cyril Conrad Cowderoy (5 May 1905 - 10 October 1976) was a priest for over 45 years and a bishop for over 26 years in the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales. Born in Sidcup, Kent, on 5 May 1905, he was consecrated and ordained as parish ...

of Southwark and Archbishop

John Aloysius Murphy John Aloysius Murphy (21 December 1905 – 18 November 1995) was a Roman Catholic Church prelate who served firstly as the Bishop of Shrewsbury from 1949 to 1961, then as the Archbishop of Cardiff from 1961 to 1983. He was born in Birkenhead ...

of Cardiff. He also became co-chairman of the Anglican—Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC). On 13 March 1976, the new

Diocese of East Anglia The Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church covering the counties of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Peterborough in eastern England. The diocese makes up part of the Catholic As ...

was established, and Alan Clark was appointed its first bishop on 26 April 1976 and installed at the Cathedral Church of St John the Baptist, Norwich on 2 June 1976. As the bishop of the new diocese, Alan Clark had to set up all the necessary instruments and commissions for the diocese to operate successfully. Following his 75th birthday in August 1994, he retired on 21 March 1995 and assumed the title Bishop

Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of East Anglia. On 2 June 2001, Bishop Clark celebrated the 25th anniversary of his installation as the first bishop of the diocese. He died on 16 July 2002, aged 82. He is buried at the National Catholic Shrine of

Our Lady of Walsingham Our Lady of Walsingham is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus venerated by Catholics, Western Rite Orthodoxy, Western Rite Orthodox Christians, and some Anglicans associated with the Marian apparitions to Richeldis de Faverches, a pious English peo ...

.Larsen, Chris. ''Catholic Bishops of Great Britain'', Sacristy Press, 2016, p. 141
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References

External links

East Anglia Diocese website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Alan Charles 1919 births 2002 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in England People from Bickley Roman Catholic bishops of East Anglia